There was a hearing before the full Agriculture Committee today. They voted for the bill that only banned sales to minors, and also voted for a slight change to the definition of electronic cigarettes (see below, it's not something to be concerned about).
A rundown of the hearing is below. Quotes should not be taken as 100% accurate.
House-Agriculture
HB1729 talk starts at 11:17
Armstrong claims that the nicotine for e-cigarettes can also come in ‘powder form’ (approx 12:45 in video).
Armstrong: “If they are tobacco products they compete against tobacco that our farmers grow here in Tennessee and in the United States but a lot of the liquid – the liquid is called a nicotine liquid … but a lot of these are manufactured in other countries – in China for example … We’re getting into a quality issue because people are already ingesting this liquid into their lungs so we certainly we want to have knowledge of where these things are being manufactured … Anything that relates to revenue, I think that’s something that needs to be taken in up a different bill … The original bill actually outlawed the electronic cigarette … We took all of that out. … This amendment gives a little bit better definition. Legal thought that this would kind of help us in terms of the description … ‘Electronic cigarette means an electronic device that converts nicotine into a vapor that is inhaled by the user.’ … (716863 is the drafting record) …
Rep Halford asks if it has been declared by the FDA to be a tobacco product, why is the bill to ban minors needed? Armstrong explains.
Rep Shaw asks Armstrng if he has used an e-cigarette? Armstrong said he saw someone on a plane use one next to him "and it lit up.” Armstrong asks people in the crowd if anyone has an electronic cigarette, but no one comes forward unfortunately.
Rep. Jeremy Faison – “Has anyone been hurt from this so far?”
Armstrong: “Some people have actually been helped from a standpoint of being able to utilize as a smoking cessation [method]. One thing is, and there’s no denying the scientific facts are that this is a lot better way of ingesting nicotine than actually lighting and burning a cigarette. It takes a lot of the carcinogenics (spelled as pronounced) that are associated with a burning cigarette – and it takes a lot of the other chemicals away. I think that a cigarette has well over 50 different types of carcinogenics in it, and they say that this has less than 8, so I actually guess it’s a healthier way to smoke.”
Faison: “This in no way will stop [people from 18 being able to purchase e-cigs]?”
Armstrong: “Absolutely.”
Bill Sanderson asks how the original bill came to be.
Armstrong: “The original bill I’d gotten through a bill that was passed in New York and I kind of based it on that. That’s why a lot of the language didn’t kind of go with our statute. It was a copy of New York’s …”
Sanderson: “I received a lot of e-mail concerning that bill and the intent of that original bill was to outlaw those electronic cigarettes, am I right? . . . Was it your interpretation of the original bill that it was to do away with the e-cigarettes?”
Armstrong: “No, no, absolutely not. The next step, and that step either one of you can do, is leading to taxing the product. It does compete against tobacco that is produced in Tennessee so we’re apparently not receiving anything else than sales tax where [other] tobacco products have to pay additional.”
Sanderson: “I have a friend that was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day and he had to go over to Missouri, I think, originally [to] buy this product and he actually was able to wean himself off by using this product. So I think the product itself, even though it may not be FDA approved, is probably a product that might have helped some smokers actually ween themselves off of nicotine.”
Armstrong: “And he imported back into Tennessee? Did he pay his taxes on that? [laughs]”
Nicely asks if you can buy ......... e-cigarettes. Armstrong laughed and talked about how TN farmers should be able grow ......... for medical patients in other states.
